BioWare Announces Post-Ending DLC for Mass Effect 3 [Updated!]

[C117]

This is the best of both worlds, Bioware get to keep their ending (which wasn't nearly as bad as everyone was making it out to be in my view)and we get decent closure on WTF happened to everyone else.

Personally I just want to know if Garrus and Tali ended up opening a bar together called the Dancing Shepard...

My thoughts exactly...

Anyway, this is pretty much all that needs to be altered in the end. Something that shows us "this is what happened after you made that last choice. This is what happened to your poor squad mates. This is what happened to your poor Shepard which might possibly still be alive and kicking."

Can't wait 'til summer...

 

[Vault101]

I doubt this will give the kind of closure to make me feel better

shepard dies scared, broken and alone.....no amount of old grandpas telling kids stories will ever change that

 

[Falsename]

Thank god they're just expanding on the endings, not changing them. I thought they where brilliant, even with the minor plot-holes. Rather sad they are offering sort of compromise to the whiners, but at least it is a compromise with no major change.

Well that's your opinion. Despite the fact that many 'actual' writers have picked apart the ME3 ending and all concluded that in fact the ending was incredibly poorly written. It lacked the fundamentals that create an ending, a narrative and everything else needed for the climax of a trilogy.

I'm feeling the urge to tell you that your opinion is stupid but that would be me dipping down to your 'whiners' level of commentary. So I'll leave you with this.

ME3's ending is proven as lazy writing, by many sources. If you liked the ending, well I guess that says a lot about your choices in narratives.

 

[Jaeke]

Hmm. I wonder how many people that said "RAWR NEVER BIOWARE AGAIN" will change their tune if this free DLC pack is actually good? my answer: lots

Here's hoping it's not as rushed as the games production.

Amen.

Its a bunch of cut-scenes. It will only rage the fire.

 

[BaronIveagh]

Its a bunch of cut-scenes. It will only rage the fire.

I dunno, if the Rage over this gets much higher, someone is gonna freak out and do something stupid.

 

[WonderWillard]

Thank god they're just expanding on the endings, not changing them. I thought they where brilliant, even with the minor plot-holes. Rather sad they are offering sort of compromise to the whiners, but at least it is a compromise with no major change.

Well that's your opinion. Despite the fact that many 'actual' writers have picked apart the ME3 ending and all concluded that in fact the ending was incredibly poorly written. It lacked the fundamentals that create an ending, a narrative and everything else needed for the climax of a trilogy.

I'm feeling the urge to tell you that your opinion is stupid but that would be me dipping down to your 'whiners' level of commentary. So I'll leave you with this.

ME3's ending is proven as lazy writing, by many sources. If you liked the ending, well I guess that says a lot about your choices in narratives.

So, if you support the 'actual' writers, does that mean people who liked the ending can support the 'actual' reviewers, who have given the game perfect scores? Whether or not something is poorly written is completely opinionated. Don't you dare insult someone just because they actually enjoyed the ending, and ended their Mass Effect trilogy on a high note.

That's one thing that drives me fucking insane, when people who hated the ending claim that those who liked ending aren't "true" or "hardcore" fans. I've played the first Mass Effect on day 1, and have read every book and comic and have countless playthroughs on the first two games, and I actually really like the ending.

More OT: Nothing is going to satisfy the "retake Mass Effect"-ers. Even if Bioware change the endings, gave them a happy ending like they have been so moronically demanding, the would still *****. They would claim that it should have been there since launch day, or the game would still be ruined for them, etc. And since Bioware has made it clear that they will not change the ending, the rage will just continue. Nothing will stop the rage, except time.

 

[Falsename]

Thank god they're just expanding on the endings, not changing them. I thought they where brilliant, even with the minor plot-holes. Rather sad they are offering sort of compromise to the whiners, but at least it is a compromise with no major change.

Well that's your opinion. Despite the fact that many 'actual' writers have picked apart the ME3 ending and all concluded that in fact the ending was incredibly poorly written. It lacked the fundamentals that create an ending, a narrative and everything else needed for the climax of a trilogy.

I'm feeling the urge to tell you that your opinion is stupid but that would be me dipping down to your 'whiners' level of commentary. So I'll leave you with this.

ME3's ending is proven as lazy writing, by many sources. If you liked the ending, well I guess that says a lot about your choices in narratives.

So, if you support the 'actual' writers, does that mean people who liked the ending can support the 'actual' reviewers, who have given the game perfect scores? Whether or not something is poorly written is completely opinionated. Don't you dare insult someone just because they actually enjoyed the ending, and ended their Mass Effect trilogy on a high note.

That's one thing that drives me fucking insane, when people who hated the ending claim that those who liked ending aren't "true" or "hardcore" fans. I've played the first Mass Effect on day 1, and have read every book and comic and have countless playthroughs on the first two games, and I actually really like the ending.

More OT: Nothing is going to satisfy the "retake Mass Effect"-ers. Even if Bioware change the endings, gave them a happy ending like they have been so moronically demanding, the would still *****. They would claim that it should have been there since launch day, or the game would still be ruined for them, etc. And since Bioware has made it clear that they will not change the ending, the rage will just continue. Nothing will stop the rage, except time.

I've found a lot of people from the retake movement have all got rather differentiated opinions on what they should add or change or remove. Some think it's the lack of options, some the rather abruptness of it all and some think it's the plot holes that're the disappointment.

But I think the common factor in it all is that the writing is genuinely bad. It's pretty much all that the opinions have in common, from the retake movement that is.

Now other 'gamers' or just anyone with an opinion can go on and on about how they're all 'whiners' and they're 'entitled' or whatever the hell names have been thrown out there. But the fact of the matter is it's not a bad movement, it's not a bad thing to ask Bioware to change the ending.

Now of course the come-back to that is 'it ruins the artistic integrity' of the game. Counter-argument to that is that the Ending itself was against the artistic integrity. The ending, as a whole, was corrupted.
Now the specifics I don't know exactly. Was it Hudsen making the final judgement or EA breathing down Bioware's throats?

Now we can argue about this till the Sun sets, but it's in God's hands now. I'm pleased that there's a movement like the Retake one. It's a step forward for the community not a step backwards.

Try to remember that.

 

[Frotality]

well i am utterly ambivalent. the ending is terrible no matter what you add on to it. adding cutscenes to tie things up is the most middle-of-the-road safe thing you can do, because it isnt really doing anything. the first step to fixing something is admitting its broken, which they have yet to do. all this is is them throwing you a bone, doing as little as humanly possible to be able to say, "there, we addressed the ending, shut up now".

personally id much rather they keep the ending and just say "yeah, we rushed it, sorry." thats ALL i want. admit it sucked. dont waste your time and money trying to circumvent the issue, just take 5 bloody minutes to admit your mistake. you are adults making a product, not children trying to save grace in front of the popular kids.

 

[karloss01]

Spoiler

I hope they put in another ending for when you don't make an effort and only go for the primary missions. i would have it occur during the final assault when harbinger comes down and murders everyone, but instead shepard dies there and never stops the reapers. its a bit silly that all the endings have the reapers defeated.

 

[ThunderCavalier]

I WANT to be happy about this, but as some people have pointed out, this is still building upon the inherently flawed Starchild and Multicolored Explosions ending, and unless they have about ten minutes of cinematics explaining who that is, how the Reapers made any sense with their actions, or how the supernovas caused by the Mass Relays didn't blow up the entire galaxy, this probably won't satisfy many people.

Especially since, as some other people have pointed out, unless they entirely remake the ending cinematic, this might prove that the Indoctrination Theory that people have been throwing around is... well... wrong. AngryJoe in particular points this out, and I kinda agree with the fact that I'd rather have the Indoctrination Theory rather than the Multicolored Explosions.

But I don't want to be premature, so I'll wait until seeing the ending DLC before I start harping on it.

 

[survivor686]

Perhaps "Clarify" is code for:

"Oh Lord, somebody fix it" or
"Yes..Starchild is an insane AI"

 

[GuerrillaClock]

See, this is exactly what EA and Bioware are looking for. Forum pages of people discussing their DLC. Free publicity. As compelling as the indoctrination theory is (and it could EASILY just be fanboys covering up genuinely bad writing by Bioware with a better story than the writers of the actual fucking game could come up with), what happens if it's true and Shepard wakes up on Earth? We're just dropped back halfway through the final battle with the Reapers? Erm, ok. That's not a climax to your trilogy, never mind the trillion other problems people have, such as the lack of clarity, obvious plot holes, cheap storytelling, complete lack of real choice, and the fact it renders the past 100 or so hours of gaming and story completely irrelevant, even if you use fan theories and whatnot to disprove all those major issues, the fact still remains that your ending is not an ending. It's not the end of Shepard's story, as we were promised. You can't just rob people of a climax to your story because you wanted some artsy glorified 'it was all a dream' bullshit so you can shill your DLC later.

 

[Kinguendo]

I wasnt so sure the ending could be as bad as the sheer volume of related threads would suggest... but having recently completed it, I can say that it is. It really, really is.

I dont think this DLC will help because it doesnt seem to say it is changing the ending... only trying to explain it better and make it relate throughout the game. The ending was some stupid B-Movie Sci-Fi fanfic thing, and explaining that (or trying your hardest) wont help.

 

[Kinguendo]

For me the game ended after the chat with Anderson. Fade to black, Crucible fires, Reaper ships start dropping like flies, roll credits.

Nope, humanity has been getting too much credit. Heres the ending I envisioned:

The Crucible, which as we know through the story, has been tampered with and additions made to it with every new cycle to such a degree that whatever original use it had has been lost and it does not react with the Citadel. Shepherd dies after realising every previous cycle had races that thought their influence could change the Universe and all they achieved was breaking the one thing that could have done something, all races die out in the ensuing battle with the Reapers from the Geth falling first while putting themselves in the path of most resistance and dying to protect their creators through to the last Humans hiding in the hope they might rebuild.

The cycle continues.

Mass Effect 4, a new universe with another chance with the first race discovering the Citadel above a charred planet we will recognize as Earth and exploring through the Mass Relays to find other races and spread word of the Citadel and the charred planet.

... Yeah, I know. Its infinetly better than the current ME3 ending AND actually lets the franchise continue legitimately.

 

[4173]

Yes, I know YouTube exists.

That said, I hope I don't need to play the entire end sequence to watch the additions for myself.

 

[Kinguendo]

See, this is exactly what EA and Bioware are looking for. Forum pages of people discussing their DLC. Free publicity. As compelling as the indoctrination theory is (and it could EASILY just be fanboys covering up genuinely bad writing by Bioware with a better story than the writers of the actual fucking game could come up with), what happens if it's true and Shepard wakes up on Earth? We're just dropped back halfway through the final battle with the Reapers? Erm, ok. That's not a climax to your trilogy, never mind the trillion other problems people have, such as the lack of clarity, obvious plot holes, cheap storytelling, complete lack of real choice, and the fact it renders the past 100 or so hours of gaming and story completely irrelevant, even if you use fan theories and whatnot to disprove all those major issues, the fact still remains that your ending is not an ending. It's not the end of Shepard's story, as we were promised. You can't just rob people of a climax to your story because you wanted some artsy glorified 'it was all a dream' bullshit so you can shill your DLC later.

Free publicity... for a free DLC? Despite the fact most of us are saying how crap the ending for ME3 was and how this DLC is just expanding on the already flawed foundation that is the current ending? Oooooookay(!)

 

[GuerrillaClock]

See, this is exactly what EA and Bioware are looking for. Forum pages of people discussing their DLC. Free publicity. As compelling as the indoctrination theory is (and it could EASILY just be fanboys covering up genuinely bad writing by Bioware with a better story than the writers of the actual fucking game could come up with), what happens if it's true and Shepard wakes up on Earth? We're just dropped back halfway through the final battle with the Reapers? Erm, ok. That's not a climax to your trilogy, never mind the trillion other problems people have, such as the lack of clarity, obvious plot holes, cheap storytelling, complete lack of real choice, and the fact it renders the past 100 or so hours of gaming and story completely irrelevant, even if you use fan theories and whatnot to disprove all those major issues, the fact still remains that your ending is not an ending. It's not the end of Shepard's story, as we were promised. You can't just rob people of a climax to your story because you wanted some artsy glorified 'it was all a dream' bullshit so you can shill your DLC later.

Free publicity... for a free DLC? Despite the fact most of us are saying how crap the ending for ME3 was and how this DLC is just expanding on the already flawed foundation that is the current ending? Oooooookay(!)

We're still talking about the DLC, aren't we? I'm not saying it's a good or sound strategy, I actually think it's incredibly shitty, but more people are talking about the release of Mass Effect 3 DLC in general than they would be if there was simply a decent, complete ending that didn't need patching.

 

[WonderWillard]

Thank god they're just expanding on the endings, not changing them. I thought they where brilliant, even with the minor plot-holes. Rather sad they are offering sort of compromise to the whiners, but at least it is a compromise with no major change.

Well that's your opinion. Despite the fact that many 'actual' writers have picked apart the ME3 ending and all concluded that in fact the ending was incredibly poorly written. It lacked the fundamentals that create an ending, a narrative and everything else needed for the climax of a trilogy.

I'm feeling the urge to tell you that your opinion is stupid but that would be me dipping down to your 'whiners' level of commentary. So I'll leave you with this.

ME3's ending is proven as lazy writing, by many sources. If you liked the ending, well I guess that says a lot about your choices in narratives.

So, if you support the 'actual' writers, does that mean people who liked the ending can support the 'actual' reviewers, who have given the game perfect scores? Whether or not something is poorly written is completely opinionated. Don't you dare insult someone just because they actually enjoyed the ending, and ended their Mass Effect trilogy on a high note.

That's one thing that drives me fucking insane, when people who hated the ending claim that those who liked ending aren't "true" or "hardcore" fans. I've played the first Mass Effect on day 1, and have read every book and comic and have countless playthroughs on the first two games, and I actually really like the ending.

More OT: Nothing is going to satisfy the "retake Mass Effect"-ers. Even if Bioware change the endings, gave them a happy ending like they have been so moronically demanding, the would still *****. They would claim that it should have been there since launch day, or the game would still be ruined for them, etc. And since Bioware has made it clear that they will not change the ending, the rage will just continue. Nothing will stop the rage, except time.

I've found a lot of people from the retake movement have all got rather differentiated opinions on what they should add or change or remove. Some think it's the lack of options, some the rather abruptness of it all and some think it's the plot holes that're the disappointment.

But I think the common factor in it all is that the writing is genuinely bad. It's pretty much all that the opinions have in common, from the retake movement that is.

Now other 'gamers' or just anyone with an opinion can go on and on about how they're all 'whiners' and they're 'entitled' or whatever the hell names have been thrown out there. But the fact of the matter is it's not a bad movement, it's not a bad thing to ask Bioware to change the ending.

Now of course the come-back to that is 'it ruins the artistic integrity' of the game. Counter-argument to that is that the Ending itself was against the artistic integrity. The ending, as a whole, was corrupted.
Now the specifics I don't know exactly. Was it Hudsen making the final judgement or EA breathing down Bioware's throats?

Now we can argue about this till the Sun sets, but it's in God's hands now. I'm pleased that there's a movement like the Retake one. It's a step forward for the community not a step backwards.

Try to remember that.

The "Retake" movement is filled with out of control rage. People were making personal attacks against Bioware and its employees, for christ's sake. The idea itself that gamers are frustrated with a game's ending, and think that it should be changed, may or may not be a bad thing. The fact that people are "demanding" a new ending, and they want to "retake" Mass Effect is just too much. Can you imagine what people who are not Bioware fans, or outside the gaming industry, must be thinking of this ridiculous controversy?

I'm just happy that Bioware is sticking to their guns on the ending. The fact that they are even releasing some additional content to flesh out the ending shows how much they care about the fan base, no matter how immature or unreasonable they are being.

 

[IrrelevantTangent]

I'm really looking forward to this. I was very disappointed by ME3's ending, and I hope this new DLC sheds some light on what the epic conclusion was intended to be.